Upside down
by always14
Summary: Hermione Granger was alone, frightened and had no family left, until her world was turned upside down as 11 month old Teddy Lupin was thrown into her life kicking, screaming and bringing a lot of love with him.
1. chapter 1

Disclaimer; Everything is owned by JK Rowling (obviously!)

I'm not sure how it happened really, it's all a blur, a mess of small moments and big decisions that ended here. Ended with me, Hermione Granger carrying a 11 month old baby through the door of my apartment and into his new home.

At the end of the war the wizarding world was in chaos, although the war had been won by the light there was still a lot of darkness everywhere. It seemed to suck the life and happiness out of the celebrations that followed the defeat of voldemort. The clean up took several months and even now, 11 months later the Wizarding world was not fully healed. It was not the buildings that were the worst off but the people, nearly every wizard and witch had suffered greatly during the war and most were struggling to move on.

During the war, I was running off adrenaline and desperation and everything happened in the blink of an eye, lives were lost, friendships were destroyed and no one knew who to trust. After the war everything slowed down, it was hard to know what to do with myself, after several weeks of mourning loved ones I was back in proactive mode, the only way I knew to survive.

I helped rebuild hogwarts, and other areas effected by the war. I had to keep active, keep moving forward, moving on. I stayed at the burrow with Harry and the Weasleys. Ron and I were in that awkward beginning stage of a relationship where you don't know where you stand. It was at this time that I began to notice a difference in Harry. He was lost, he didn't know how to live when nearly his entire life had been centred around destroying Voldemort. Now that was done he didn't know where to go from there. His relationship with Ginny began to suffer and just 2 months after the war had finished, he left, leaving nothing but a note telling us not to contact him, that he needed time and he would come back when he was ready. Ginny's heart broke, she blamed everyone and anyone for Harry leaving, pushing people away and throwing herself into Quiddich and preparing to return to Hogwarts for her final year.

3 months after the war mine and Ron's relationship hit the rocks, we barely spoke and when we did it was to argue. I started spending more time with different people, people I had met through the war clean up; Neville Longbottom, Hannah Abbot and Daphne Greengrass became close friends of mine. While I was spending time with my new friends I began to spend less time with Ron and he became jealous of any man he saw even look at me in the street. Meanwhile Ron was getting a lot of female attention, the type he had always wished for at hogwarts and I suspect he began to act on the attention. The nail in our relationship coffin came however when Viktor Krum came to Wizarding London. I went to visit Viktor at the leaky cauldron and we went for lunch, old friends catching up. The press caught wind of this and a particularly nasty article by Rita Skeeter and several photos of the two of us at lunch and outside Viktor's hotel room soon became "evidence" of our affair. When I arrived at the Burrow from a clean up shift in Hogsmede it was to find all my belongings scattered in the mud and a furious Mrs Weasley waiting for me.

8 months later and I still have not heard anything from the Weasley family after that day. Mrs Weasley called me every name under the sun for the hurt I'd caused her dearest Ronnikins. Everytime I tried to explain I was cut down and told never to come near her family again. My life changed that day, I felt completely alone for the first time in my life. I didn't have my parents, who's memory charm was irreversible and I had no idea where Harry was so I went to Neville. He must have held me for hours while I cried and was my guardian angel in the weeks that followed. He kept the press at bay and helped me find an apartment in muggle London even managing to squelch one or two of the more heinous rumours about mine and Ron's break up (although I expect that galleons were involved). In the months that followed my life was gradually changing for the better, but it wasn't until 9 months after the war that my life changed completely.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer; JK Rowling owns everything

9 months after the war:

I let out a deep sigh of relief as I left the Regulation and control of magical creatures head office and walked further into the atrium of the Ministry of Magic. The interview had gone really well, Mathilda Grimblehawk (the head of the department) had complimented me on my passion for all magical creatures and said she would owl me next week. My heels clicked and my leather briefcase swung as I walked and I thought for a moment how well my life would come together, if I did in fact get the job.

"Miss Granger!... Miss Granger!" I spun around to see a short fat middle aged man waddling towards me waving a rather large black briefcase. He stopped in front of me, jammed his overly large glasses onto his even bigger nose and took a deep breath.

"Just the young lady I was looking for yes, was going to owl you yes, but then I saw you and well it seemed an oppurtune moment, yes" he continued to speak at such a pace that I simply stared at him in confusion. I was watching his face as it became more and more red until I was sure it would explode, it was then that I realised he'd asked me a question.

"Yes?" I said in panic having missed the last part of his speech.

"Oh excellent! come along then" he said quickly and then spun on his heel, grabbed my hand and walked quickly towards the lift.

"Level 2 Department of Magical Law Enforcement" I looked around as we exited the lift, surely I wasn't being arrested? I followed cautiously behind the man as he wobbled ahead, they would have sent someone better to arrest me, right? At least a couple of aurors? Just as mild panic began to set in we took a right into "Wizengamot Administration Services" and I relaxed, slightly. I was ushered into a seat and the little man bustled off, I sat for a moment trying desperately to remember if the man had said anything that was at all useful or would tell me why I was there.

"Miss Granger? he will see you now" I looked up at the young secretary who on making eye contact with me glared hatefully. It seemed people from every walk of wizarding life believed the gossip in Skeeter's column, the most recent of which was a photo of me with " **The reason the Golden Trio seperated?"** I sighed, smoothed my pencil skirt down and made my way through the door that the secretary was gesturing towards.

"Miss Granger do come in, I'm Mr Lightbody and I'm here to talk to you about the Tonks/Lupin case". The man behind the desk was so thin as to almost be translucent and had thin wirey white hair sticking out at odd angles. I took his out stretched hand and shook it before replying.

"I'm sorry, I'm not sure I know what you're talking about?"

"After the passing of Nymphadora and the werewolf..."

"Remus, his name was Remus" I practically spat at the man, how dare he. After everything Professor Lupin had done for the wizarding world.

"Yes of course, my apologies, Remus. Their child Teddy Lupin went to the next living relative, in this case the maternal grandmother Andromeda Tonks. However after Andromeda's passing..." At this I gasped, I hadn't known that Andromeda had passed away. Although many members of the Order had been less than friendly with me, most sharing the Weasley's opinion of me. I would have thought they'd at least have the curtesy to owl me the news, I didn't even know how or when she had passed. Mr lightbody gave me a concerned look before continuing.

"The responsibility for the care of Teddy Lupin now falls to the godparents." At this news I paled. "The Lupin's stated in the will that they would like one Harry Potter to have primary care of Teddy, however we have been unable to locate Mr Potter. Should we continue to be unable to contact Mr Potter the primary care of Teddy Lupin would then fall to Hermione Granger the child's godmother". I took a deep calming breath although I was visibly shaking. "That's you dear" he stated and I fought to roll my eyes.

"Where is Teddy now? How do we proceed?" The immediete panic had dispersed and instead I felt a huge, overwhelming desire to see Teddy and make sure he was okay.

"Teddy Lupin is currently with a temporary foster family, as are many of the orphans of the war before something more permanent can be set up for them. Within the next couple of days we will do an evaluation of you, your home and your finances. If you pass these evaluations Teddy will then be released into your care with several check ups from somebody within this department before you can be given official adoptive rights of Teddy."

I left the ministry in a daze, I couldn't concentrate enough to apparate so I walked to Diagon Alley to have a drink. I was desperate to see Teddy but couldn't stomach the idea that I would be a parent at 19 to a child that wasn't even biologically mine. I mentally scolded myself for how selfish I was being, Teddy was all alone with no one to love him and I'd be damned if I was going to let it stay that way. I headed towards Flourish and Blotts to buy some baby books but as I passed the Leaky cauldron the door flew open as a man in a cloak was flung out into the street. He landed hard on the dirty ground but stood quickly as two other men came towards him shouting obscenities as they went. I looked up in shock at some of the words.

"Deatheater scum! Who do you think you are coming in here"

"All the people you helped murder, my brother included, you're not welcome here you piece of shit" they both spat at the man and raised their wands.

"PROTEGO!" I screamed, suddenly back in focused war mode, adrenaline pumping through me as though I was back in battle. My shield was thrown between the men and their victim but I was a second too late as a slicing jinx hit the victim and he crumpled to the floor.

"Expelliarmus" I cried and both attackers wands arched towards my outstretched hand.

"Ooh it's whore Granger the war heroine, what are you a traitor now as well? helping deatheaters" one of the men said mockingly. I didn't recognise either of them but the smaller of the two was trying to pull the larger one back into the pub as he looked at me with a mixture of fear and respect. I stared them down and threw their wands towards them followed by two neat stinging jinxes which sent them squarking back into the pub clutching their backsides. I quickly ran over to the victim who was now sitting and trying to push himself up into a more dignified position but failing miserably.

"Stop, let me help you." I cried reaching for his arm.

"I don't need your help Granger" he spat as he turned towards me and I was met with the hate filled grey eyes of Draco Malfoy.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer; JK Rowling owns everything

The victim was Draco Malfoy? I struggled to hide my shock at seeing him again, especially like this. I quickly looked away from my childhood enemy and my eyes drifted down to the blood seeping through his robes from his heavily bleeding leg.

"Actually you do need my help" I stated moving back towards him and gripping him under the arm.

"Back off!" he snarled as he tried to shake me off, I hung tightly to him and moved to grip both of his arms.

"Don't try and put weight on it, use your other leg to lift yourself up"

"I know what to do Granger" he spat. After a lot of heaving I managed to pull him unsteadily to his feet.

"I'll apparate you to St Mungos, I could probably heal this" I said gesturing to his leg "but you might have other injuries"

"Not Mungos, they won't treat me there" he sighed. I looked at him in confusion, his head was now hung in shame and he had begun almost automatically to lean on me for support.

"Of course they will, they treat everyone there" I said confidently.

"Oh they'll see to me eventually sure, but only when i've almost died of blood loss and then only because dealing with a death is a lot of paperwork" he spat. I refrained from arguing with him about this as it was obviously a sore subject.

"Okay, I'll side-along us to mine" I said, trying to keep up a friendly demeanor. Before he could argue I disapparated and landed heavily in the living room of my apartment.

"What the hell Granger?! What gives you the right to apparate me without my consent" Malfoy practically yelled, which would have been more intimidating if he hadn't still been leaning on me.

"Well forgive me for saving your life" I huffed as I pushed him to sit on the sofa. He snorted and I glared. I moved around to face him, pushed his robes aside and pulled up his trouser leg to reveal the deep gash, I winced at the sight.

"What are you doing?!" he all but shouted, pushing himself as far back into the sofa as was physically possible.

"Oh hold still you idiot" I snapped. " _Vulnera Sanentur"_ I said the incantation as I moved my wand across the gash and watched in satisfaction as it begun to close up. " _Tergeo"_ I murmered and the dried blood around the wound disappeared. I moved off my knees onto the balls of my feet and admired my handiwork.

"Thanks" I looked up in shock, had Malfoy just thanked me? was I dreaming?

"Umm it's fine, does anything else hurt?"

"Just bruises, it's fine" he muttered almost to himself. I moved and sat on the armchair opposite the sofa and looked at him. I wracked my brains for the last time I'd seen him. Was it sixth year? it couldn't have been. Then I remembered him in Malfoy Manor when I was being tortured and I breathed deeply to calm myself. He looked different now though, less hollowed out and frightened then he had then. His hair wasn't slicked back and instead hung a little too long over his eyes, his build was also less scrawny and his face and body had filled out. I shook myself as my gaze seemed to become stuck on his arms which were a lot more toned than I remembered.

"I need to be somewhere" Malfoy said abruptly and went to stand, only to lose balance on his leg and fall back onto the sofa with a thud.

"Maybe you should stay for a while until you can walk properly, I'll make some tea" I said as I stood up.

"I don't need your pity tea Granger" Malfoy all but growled.

"It's not pity tea, It's Chamomile" I said and with that I flounced into the kitchen. I saw Malfoy through the doorway groan and lie his head back on the sofa cushion.

I carried the tea back into the living room and Malfoy looked at it warily. I took a cup and pushed the other towards him.

"It's not poisoned" I sighed at the expression on his face and took a sip. "Does that happen a lot? you know, what happened today."

"We're not friends Granger, stop behaving as if we are" he scoffed as he finally picked up the tea.

"You should tell someone, they shouldn't be treating you like that. You were cleared of all charges" and it was true, shortly after the war all the deatheaters who had surrendered were rounded up and were given a full trial in front of the Wizengamot. Lucius Malfoy had been given a life sentence in Azkaban with no visitation after being found guilty of crimes against the wizarding community, muggles and even his family that were too awful to even comprehend. Narcissa, having not taken the dark mark was cleared of all charges and after a thorough search of the manor was permitted to return. Draco followed several months later after a long trial. Harry spoke on his behalf and he was then found innocent and cleared of his charges, much to the dismay of many of the wizarding population.

"Quit with the sympathy Granger, it's irritating" he said and with a brief nod of what I assumed was thanks he stood up shakily and made his way to the door.

Two days later I was curled up on the sofa reading one of the thicker baby books I now owned when there was a knock at the door. I looked down at my outfit in disgust, I was pretty sure whoever was on the otherside of the door wouldn't appreciate my bright yellow jumper and dirty leggings. I sighed and stood up to answer it. I opened the door to a small old woman in a too tight grey suit carrying a clipboard.

"Miss Granger may I come in, I'm here for your home inspection"

"Umm of course" I said, opening the door wide and stepping out of the little formidable looking womans way.

"Can I take a look around?" I nodded in confirmation although I had begun to panic, what state had I left the bathroom in? or the bedroom? as the lady tottered around in the kitchen opening cupboards I sped into both my bedroom and bathroom quickly tidying the worst of the mess away. I then sat myself down on the sofa trying desperately to look relaxed.

"Will this be the baby's room" she called from the bedroom directly across from mine.

"Yes, that's the plan" I replied. She came back into the living room and sat herself down in the chair opposite me. "Can I get you anything? tea?" I groaned at how pathetically English I sounded.

"No thank you" she said briskly "I just have a few questions for you Miss Granger" I nodded at her and she continued. "We've checked your finances and although you have a large sum for your help with the war effort how are you planning on supporting the baby long term?"

"I've applied for a job in the ministry, the Department for the Regulation And Control Of Magical Creatures as a researcher." I replied calmly, although my hands were visibly shaking.

"What is your plan for the baby while you're at work if you do in fact get the job?" she asked snootily. I took a deep breath to prevent myself snapping her head off.

"I plan to discuss my situation with my boss and will hopefully be able to do a large amount of work from home. I will also look at day care centres for Teddy for the time I'll be at work". The woman scribbled furiously on her clipboard. The interview continued in this way for what felt like hours, the woman asked me everything from my NEWT grades (which I had had special permission to take 2 months previously) to my current relationships. I was exhausted when she finally got up to leave.

"Everything seems to be in order, you can come to the Ministry tomorrow at 9am to sign the papers and collect the baby. You'll need to effectively baby proof the apartment but we'll check this as well as how you're coping in one of our inspections". She shook my hand hard and then left, leaving me still sat on the sofa in complete shock. Everything seemed real now, tomorrow I'd be bringing home a baby, an 11 month old baby. I'd painted Teddy's room a bright yellow only yesterday but there was nothing in the room except a small wooden chest of drawers. I needed to go shopping.

I looked over at the round clock hanging on the wall and watched the unknown qudditch player zoom around the number twelve until I felt dizzy. It was midnight and I was slumped against the wall of Teddy's new room with Neville slumped to my right and Hannah to my left.

"How am I going to do this?" I asked quietly, almost to myself. Hannah reached out and grabbed my hand, squeezing it gently she said,

"Look what you've done in the last few days. You've created a little boys dream room, you've learnt more about baby's than most mothers ever know and you've taken it all in your stride. As far as i'm concerned he's the luckiest baby in the world." I felt tears spring to my eyes at Hannah's words and pulled her into a bear hug.

"Quit strangling my girlfriend Mione!" laughed Neville. "She's right though, and you know we'll be here for you with whatever you need" I kissed him on the cheek in thanks.

"Look we've got to go, you get some sleep and we'll come over tomorrow evening and meet the newest addition to our weird little family." Neville said as he ruffled my hair and stood up pulling his girlfriend from my death grip and dragging her to stand with him.

After they left I stayed slumped against the wall for a while before dragging myself up, across the hall and into bed fully clothed where I fell fast asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer; JK Rowling owns everything.

I had almost slept through my alarm and when I'd finally managed to roll out of bed the sight that met me was not a pretty one. My hair was a mess, my clothes were ruffled and I had a red imprint on my cheek from the edge of my pillow. Now, almost 30 minutes later I looked in the mirror and barely recognised the woman staring back at me. The Hermione facing me was a far cry from the hermione of 30 minutes earlier, she looked like an adult. She looked ready for this huge responsibility and looking at my reflection I suddenly felt a little braver.

20 minutes later my stomach was churning as I made my way into the foyer of the Ministry of Magic. I had had some coffee but was unable to stomach any food, the nerves earlier had been so bad that I was almost sick. I was making my way across the atrium when I heard a bang from behind me, I spun quickly in panic, immediately assuming the worst. Instead of a rogue deatheater however, I found Malfoy knelt on the floor with a huge number of files and papers surrounding him. He was furiously searching for his wand in his robes and I watched in shock as the people around him pushed past him, some even treading on the papers and files as they passed.

"Here" I said passing him the wand that had rolled towards me from his pile of papers. Malfoy looked up at me, yanked the wand from my hand and used it to collect the papers into his arms.

"Oh no really it's no trouble at all" I growled sarcastically at his lack of acknowledgement of my help.

"I didn't ask for your help Granger, if you weren't so bloody Gryffindor we wouldn't be in this situation" he spat as he stood up and turned away from me.

"Fine. Next time I'll leave you to be trampled on shall I?" I said angrily. Malfoy went to respond but I held my hand up and sighed, "I have an important meeting to get to" and with that I turned on my heel and strode towards the lifts. Unaware that I had left a bright red Malfoy in my wake.

"Miss Granger you're late, I hope you don't make a habit of it." mocked the secretary who I was beginning to like less and less. I looked in shock at my watch which read 9:01 and sighed, this woman really had it out for me. I figured that telling her about Malfoy in the atrium wouldn't be productive and so instead I mumbled an apology.

"Can I see Teddy now?" I asked but instead of replying she just shoved several forms across the desk towards me.

"Fill these in and give them back when you're done," she said looking down at her nails as if to show just how dull she found me. I groaned and sat with the stack of forms and began making my way through them. I could barely concentrate, I could be signing my life away for all I knew, but I didn't care I just wanted to see Teddy! What felt like hours later but must have been 10 minutes at most, I was finally finished with the forms and I returned them to the desk.

"Through there" the secretary waved in the vague direction of the office door near her desk. I knocked once and pushed the door open.

"Teddy!" I cried. In the middle of the office surrounded by a small pile of toys sat Teddy. He looked up as I entered, his face was tear stained but he smiled up at me before he went back to his toys. I wasn't surprised he barely recognised me, the last time I'd seen him had been two days before my break up with Ron, he'd been 5 months old then. He was obviously a lot bigger now but his little chubby cheeks and hazelnut eyes were still the same and he was still completely adorable.

"Miss Granger, it's nice to see you again" said Mr Lightbody grabbing my hand and shaking it thoroughly. "His foster parents just dropped him off, he's ready for you to take him home now" he said and smiled widely.

"Oh Teddy sweety" I cried and picked him up off the floor peppering his face with kisses. He looked up at me in confusion and his lip began to wobble furiously.

"Look what I've bought you" I murmered as I dug around in my shoulder bag pulling out a small wolf toy, "It's Moony" I said and watched him take the toy from me, holding it close and shoving his face into it's fur. I looked at him and felt tears forming in my eyes, I blinked hard and held him close.

"This is his bag, it has his clothes and some toys that we retrieved from the house" Mr Lightbody said as he scampered around under the desk putting loose toys into the bag. "I would invite you to stay for coffee but I've got another meeting in a few minutes" he said as he threw the bag over my shoulder and held the door open for me to exit. I pushed Teddy further up onto my hip, pulled the bag higher onto the opposite shoulder and gave Mr Lightbody a half wave as I left his office. The secretary glared at me as I passed her but I was so relieved to have Teddy that I just walked right past her grinning like an idiot.

The journey home was uneventful but as soon as I stepped into the apartment Teddy became fussy and began to cry.

"What's wrong Teds?" I crooned, putting the bag down as Teddy's crys became louder.

"Ooh do you need your nappy changed" I sighed, proud of myself for figuring out the problem but not ecstatic at the prospect of actually changing my first nappy. "I can do this!" I whispered as I pulled out the changing table and layed Teddy down. The smell was bad, and I momentarily wondered how I was going to do this several times a day. After a longer amount of time than was entirely necessary I finally managed to change his nappy. I was proud of myself for finding the tabs and not having to use duct tape (which was apparently the go to for clueless nappy changers). Knowing that I needed to get Teddy on a good sleep schedule I changed him into a cute little onesie covered in stars and laid him down in his crib for a nap. It was then that I noticed his hair, it was still grey. As a Metamorphmagus Teddy had always changed his hair colour several times an hour, but since I'd seen him in the office and taken him home his hair had remained stubbornly grey. What if the trauma of losing his family and being moved around from person to person stunted his Metamorphmagus abilities! I needed to do some research to find out what the problem was.

My first day with Teddy was difficult to say the least, feeding him his bottle was relatively easy but when it came to more solid foods it was like being back at the battle of Hogwarts. Teddy point blank refused to feed himself or let me feed him and would throw the food and his bowl onto the floor rather than eat anything. I must have tried hundreds of recommended foods at each meal time before finding success with Cheerios. I sighed with relief as he started to eat the cheerios only to pick up the bowl a few minutes later and tip it upside down on his head, Cheerios flying everywhere. By the time 6 o'clock rolled around I was exhausted, as I psyched myself up for bath time my floo activated and out stepped Neville.

"Where's the little lad then? haven't killed him have you?" Neville asked in mock concern.

"Ha ha very funny, he's through here we're about to tackle bathtime" I called as I stuck my head out of the bathroom door.

"Hi little man" Neville cooed as he swooped Teddy up from the floor where he was playing with a rubber duck and blew a raspberry on his belly. Teddy shrieked with laughter for the first time since I'd got him and I burst into tears.

"Oh Mione what's wrong?" Neville cried as he sat Teddy back down on the bathroom floor where he became distracted by the duck once again.

"I'm going to mess this up, I don't know what I'm doing and I'm worried he hates me, he hasn't laughed since I've had him except just then and I'm sure I'm disappointing Tonks and Remus" I sniffed.

"You're being ridiculous! they'd be so happy you are raising Teddy it's just going to take some getting used to but you're doing a great job. I mean you've survived the first day right, only 17 years to go" Neville laughed. I scoffed at him and rolled my eyes.

"Thanks Nev, super helpful!" I laughed as I leant over to run the bath. "Come on Teds lets get you into this bath and get those crumbs out of your hair".

Teddy loved the bath, he giggled and grinned like mad as Neville and I washed him and played with his duck, giving the duck silly voices and splashing each other. I started to relax for the first time since I'd bought him home. After his bath Neville headed home to Hannah and I carried Teddy into his bedroom. As I tucked Teddy into his crib and read him Babbity Rabbity and her Cackling Stump, he reached out and wrapped his small fist around my finger before falling fast asleep with 'Moony' tucked under his arm.

A/N: Sorry for the short chapters but I'm trying to update every day which unfortunately makes the chapters kind of short! They'll probably get longer as I go on with the story though! Big thanks to the people who have reviewed!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer; JK Rowling owns everything.

It was 5 days after I had picked up Teddy that I finally received an owl from the Ministry in regards to my job interview. I had written to Mrs Grimblehawk to explain my situation and as I opened the letter I prayed she'd be understanding.

 _Miss Hermione Granger_ ,

 _It is my pleasure to inform you that you have been offered a job in the **Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.**_

 _Considering your extraneous circumstances we would like to offer you the job of **contract researcher**.This would allow you to research a wide variety of topics and would also allow you to work from home Tuesday through Thursday. Assuming you wish to take the job you will need to be at the head office at 9am on Monday the 11th of March. Yours Sincerely_,

 _Mathilda Grimblehawk._

I grinned like an idiot, I couldn't believe it! This was a completely perfect job. I needed to head to Diagon Alley and tell Hannah as well as getting some new work quills, obviously. I was pretty much trembling with excitement at this point.

"Look Teds," I said waving the letter and grinning at the little boy sat on his play mat surrounded by brightly coloured bricks. He looked up and waved a chubby fist at me. In the last few days Teddy and I had developed a pretty good routine. He'd stopped throwing his food everywhere (well almost stopped) and he was starting to smile and laugh more, which was a huge relief. The only frustrating thing was his hair, it still remained stubbornly grey and the only information I could find on why that could be was some rubbish about it reflecting his mood, which was too depressing a suggestion to take seriously. Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I swung Teddy up, gave him a huge sloppy kiss which made him giggle hysterically and strapped him into his pushchair.

"We're going to go and celebrate Mione's new job" I said happily to him as I pushed him out of the front door. I had started saying Mione as much as I could around him after I had read that he should be saying his first word anytime now. I figured hermione was too difficult so I'd settled on my nickname. I headed to the Leaky Cauldron only to find that Hannah had gone on her lunch break, I groaned but my good mood stayed as I headed into Diagon Alley to find her. I attracted more than one odd look as I pushed the baby stroller down the cobbled street. I'd been out with Teddy to parks and shopping centres but only in Muggle London. This was my first time braving Diagon Alley so I kept my head down and pushed the buggy as quickly as possible in the direction of the small cafe next door to _Quality Qudditch Supplies._

You're a cheater AND you have a bastard child, well that is just hilarious" I spun around at the voice although I knew full well it could only belong to one person. My good mood vanished as I saw Ron, he stood with a box under one arm and a blond bimbo under the other. I turned back to Teddy and continued pushing the buggy away from Ron.

"I bet you don't even know who's it is do you?" he laughed harshly. "I used to date her, don't judge me too much, I was young," he said to the bimbo. I looked down and tears sprung to my eyes but I blinked them away.

"Don't ignore me," he spat and grabbed my arm. I tried to pull it out of his grip and at this Teddy began to cry.

"Leave us alone," I said forcefully and tried to turn back to Teddy but Ron still had tight hold of my upper arm.

"No. Could be mine for all I know, not that I'd want anything to do with the little bastard," he laughed and I glared hard at him.

"Don't you dare call him that. Leave. Us. Alone." I said punctuating every word with a small push to his chest.

"You little bitch," he cried gripping my arm tighter.

"I think you should go now Weasel before you do something we'll both regret," called a cold voice from behind me. I turned to see Malfoy, looking bored and resting one hand on the buggy as if it was perfectly natural for him to be there.

"Oh wow, you've really sunk low this time, he's a fucking deatheater Hermione it amazes me just who you'll spread your legs for," Ron said in disgust, letting go of my arm and pushing me into Malfoy.

"You kiss your mother with that mouth Weasel, for christ sake there are kids here," Malfoy cried in disgust. Ron looked around him in surprise at all the people staring. He muttered something that sounded suspiciously like bastard, before pulling the blond towards him and strutting past us giving Malfoy the finger as he went. I realised I was still stood against Malfoy's hard chest and jumped away from him rubbing my arm.

"Thanks for that," I whispered. I was extremely self conscious of the fact that several groups of people were still staring at us as we stood in the middle of the street.

"I thought my ex's were bad, Weasley makes Pansy look like a sweetheart," I laughed at that as I made my way to the front of the buggy and picked up the still wailing Teddy and whispered to him softly.

I looked over at Malfoy as he bent down to pick something off the floor.

"Hey little man, I think this is yours," Malfoy whispered in the most gentle voice I'd ever heard him use. Teddy looked round at him from where he was hidden in my curls, and stuck out his hand to retrieve 'Moony' from Malfoy. I then watched in total utter shock as his hair changed from grey to white-blond, the mirror of Malfoy's own.

"Hey, that's a cool trick, are you a Metamorphmagus," he asked, still talking to Teddy and not me.

"Yeah he is, he actually hasn't changed his hair colour in such a long while I thought his abilities were stunted," I said cuddling him tightly in happiness.

"Oh. Well he's very cute," Malfoy said now looking incredibly uncomfortable.

"Yeah, he takes after his parents," I said smiling sadly.

"Bit arrogant there Granger," Malfoy smirked down at me but I just looked at him in complete confusion. It took me a few seconds to realise what he must have assumed.

"Oh no he's not mine, well he is mine, but he's not biologically mine. He's Tonk's son, I'm his godmother and when his family died... well anyway now I look after him." I smiled sadly as I strapped him back into his pushchair. I looked up at Malfoy and I saw an odd expression on his face, it looked a lot like sympathy and I quickly looked away.

"This is Nymphadora's son?" Malfoy asked and I nodded an affirmative. I shuffled my feet awkwardly and made to leave.

"So... thanks again for helping me out there Malfoy," I said in a rush as I awkwardly fiddled with the toggles on my coat.

"Don't mention it, we're near enough even now," he said with what looked like a smile but I couldn't be sure.

"Pfft we're not even close," I replied and with a small wave I pushed Teddy's buggy down the street and into the cafe where I knew I'd find Hannah. Had I just had a civil conversation with Malfoy? was that even possible?

"What's got you looking so starry eyed?" I spun around at the voice and pulled Hannah into a bone crushing hug which hid my blush well.

"I've just seen Ron in the street," Hannah winced on my behalf "and guess who my saviour was? Draco effing Malfoy," Hannah looked up at me in surprise.

"Well that explains the hair," laughed Hannah as she picked the still very blond Teddy up and sat him on her lap. We discussed the street argument a little but I left the worst out as I didn't want to worry her. Instead I told her about my new job. She let out a woop of joy when she heard and immediately offered her babysitting services whenever I needed them.

"Talking of babies, I see we've got our Metamorphmagus abilities back, the scary inspector man obviously didn't scar him as much as you thought." Hannah laughed as she cuddled Teddy to her.

"He scarred me more than him I think," I chuckled as I thought back two days ago when I'd had my first inspection.

The man at the door was in his early 50's, bald, with a too large suit that hung around him and could have probably fit him two times over. He eyed me appreciatively when I opened the door and continued to rake his eyes up and down my body as the inspection went on. His first port of call was to have a "chat" with Teddy and so he bent down revealing a hairy bum crack as he did. I threw up a bit in my mouth at the sight and quickly had to stiffle a laugh as he began to speak to Teddy really loudly and really slowly, as if speaking to an extremely stupid person. Teddy, as expected, burst into floods of tears. The man who was now trying to soothe Teddy by speaking even louder soon gave up and stepped away to allow me to pick him up. As soon as I had him in my arms Teddy promptly stopped crying. After this debacle the man moved on to inspect the flat, seeming to spend an unnecessary time in my bedroom. Which is where I found him 10 minutes later rifling through my underwear draw and breathing in deeply.

"I don't think you'll find anything you need in there," I called from the doorway making him jump and drop the lacey black knickers that he was currently holding.

"Right yes of course," he said, his blush spreading from his cheeks all the way down his neck. He then proceeded to check a few boxes on his clipboard and leave my flat. Hannah of course found this story thigh slappingly hilarious and had made sure to tell it to everyone she knew.

I agreed to let Hannah babysit on the Monday when I left her at the Leaky Cauldron where she was starting her next shift. Teddy was already asleep in his pushchair when we got home and so I put him down for his afternoon nap, slightly relieved to see his hair had changed to its natural sandy blond. Looking at his sleeping figure I thought about how lucky I was that he came into my life and how much I'd needed him. I hadn't realised it at the time but I needed a little unconditional love in my life.

A/N; Thanks again to everyone who reviewed. I'm going to be busy packing as I'm heading back to uni in a few days but I'll try to update as regularly as possible.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer; JK Rowling owns everything.

I was determined to make the most of my free weekend before I started my job on Monday. Even though I hadn't had Teddy in my life for long, the idea of leaving him even for a little while gave me anxiety. I wanted to spend my last completely free weekend with him. Teddy was becoming the most important thing in my life and even changing nappies no longer bothered me.

"Do you want to go to Diagon Alley again today Ted?" I asked him as he aggressively kicked over the blocks I had just been stacking for him. I had decided to not let the incident with Ron phase me and we went to Diagon Alley the day after the incident for icecream at Fortescue's. Teddy had his first chocolate icecream, although he got more on his face and his clothes than in his mouth. My desire to go to Diagon Alley again today, had nothing to do with a certain blond man who had been stuck in my mind like a bad song since his chivalrous act on Friday. Or so I told myself anyway. Teddy had gotten extremely excited when we passed Weasley Wizard Wheezes the previous day and I was dead set on taking him, no matter how awkward it would be to bump into Fred or George. I began getting ready to leave, popping Teddy in his highchair with his sippy cup and a bowl of cheerios as I fixed my hair and makeup in the bathroom.

"How do you always make such a mess?" I laughed as I came back into the kitchen to see Teddy with Cheerio bits stuck to his face and his bib covered in juice. "Silly Billy," I crooned at him as I wiped his face and took his bib off.

"Mumma!" Teddy cried clapping his hands together excitedly.

"No no Teddy, Mi own ee. Mione." I said tears flooding my eyes as I thought about his actual mum and how betrayed she'd feel. She wasn't here anymore though, did that make me his Mum? I was the only one he'd ever know. How ridiculous that his first word had caused such a moral dilemma for me.

"Mumma!" Teddy cried again and this time I took a deep breath picked him up and cuddled him tightly.

"That's right baby boy I'm your Mumma," I whispered to him softly.

2 hours later I could be found with Teddy in my arms, walking back and forth in front of Weasley Wizard Wheezes. A few minutes later I plucked up all my Griffindor courage, pushed open the door as Teddy let out a shriek of delight at the sight before him. I had to hand it to the twins, the shop was just as impressive as it had always been. Little figurines were flying about on broomsticks and miniture fireworks were going off above our heads as we entered. Teddy reached out his hand to try and grab at them.

"I wondered how long it would be before you came in here," I slowly turned and faced George Weasley and was completely surprised to see a huge grin on his face.

"Is that Teddy Lupin? I haven't seen him in months, of course, you were his godmother weren't you," said George sadly. He reached out and ruffled Teddy's hair which promptly turned bright red to match George's.

"You're not mad at me?" I asked hesitantly as Teddy squirmed in my arms trying to reach George's bright badges.

"What? Of course not! The rumours about you in your fourth year were rubbish why would now be any different?" He laughed as he took Teddy from my arms and hoisted him up so he could play with his badges.

"Hey there Hermione!" a cheery voice came from behind me and as I turned towards Fred I was met with a fierce hug. "You need to come round more often we've missed you," he sighed as he released me.

"Our brothers a git" laughed Fred.

"A massive git" whispered George as he covered Teddy's ears.

"Our family are a bunch of gits,"

"Who'd be mad enough to let you go?"

"Must have lost his mind,"

"All of them are barmy,"

"Completely barmy,"

"If we had you we'd never let you go," they finished together. I laughed, god I'd missed their antics. George and Fred fussed over Teddy as I walked around the shop looking at their new stock. When I got back to the check out desk it was to find Teddy sitting on the counter waving a fake wand as George served the customers. I laughed at the sight and George and Teddy turned to face me.

"Mumma," Teddy called waving his wand so enthusiastically that he threw it over his shoulder, hitting the Pigmy Puff pen and causing them to scatter angrily. I quickly grabbed Teddy and retrieved his wand before he was attacked by angry Pigmy Puffs.

"We'd love to babysit," cried George.

"He makes a cracking shop assistant," laughed Fred. I went to pay for Teddy's fake wand, which he was refusing to let go of.

"It's on the house," they chuckled as they waved us off. I smiled happily as we left the shop. Teddy was still grinning like mad and waving his wand around, I was a little worried he'd poke my eye out. I was sure the twins were going to be a terrible influence on him but I found I really didn't mind.

I cried when I dropped Teddy off with Hannah the next morning before heading to work. Teddy wasn't at all bothered about being seperated and was perfectly happy to play with 'Moony' in Hannah's living room. I couldn't believe I was so emotional and I mentally scolded myself, I really was pathetic. I arrived at the head office and was told to take a seat as Mrs Grimblehawk was with someone. I could hear a great deal of shouting coming from her office and one particularly loud bang at which point a dishevelled witch stormed out. I practically growled at the sight of her, it was obviously her from her pink shoes and suit to her bright pink cat broach. Dolores Umbridge. How she'd avoided Askaban was completely beyond me and as far as I was concerned she was worse than Voldemort himself. She didn't even notice me as she stormed past muttering about filthy halfbreeds as she went.

"Hermione? I mean Miss Granger do come in." Mrs Grimblehawk called from her desk.

"Hermione's fine," I said smiling pleasantly. Anyone who could force Umbridge to leave their office in that kind of state was definitely a friend of mine.

"Awful woman," she muttered to herself as she straightened her blouse. "She's trying to push through a bill that prevents Werewolves seeking medical treatment, it's disgusting." I couldn't agree more and told her so. "Anyway I digress, I've got you in here to give you these," at which she handed me a large stack of files. "Get through them at your own pace and owl me if there's any issues, you'll need to be in the office Mondays 9-1 and Fridays 1-5 but other than that you have pretty much got free reign." I couldn't help but grin at that. "I'll want updates on Monday's and Friday's and obviously the occasional owl, I hope this job suits you Hermione as I think you'll be a huge asset to the department." she said smiling brightly and standing up. I mirrored her movement and she led me down a line of offices to a tiny little office by the toilets.

"Thank you," I said politely.

"I know it's not very big but I've also registered you with the Ministry's library and you'll have almost full access and can of course work in there if you'd rather. Well I'll be off, let me or my secretary know if you need anything." I grinned again, I was pretty sure it was going to be a permanent fixture on my face from now on. I sat down and opened the top file and read, **_Werewolf registration_** **act -** _several complaints have been made, please review and draw up a proposal- MG._ If it was possible my grin widened.

The day flew by quickly, I was ecstatic at being able to use the library and so spent most of my day in there. I barely noticed when it turned 12 and would have forgotten lunch entirely if it hadn't been for my stomachs loud complaints. I headed down to the cafe I had met Hannah in two days ago, it was packed. I looked around for an open table and spotted one just by the window. I reached it at the exact same time as someone else, I looked up to see Malfoy smirking at me.

"Oh, sorry," I blushed. What was I apologising for? God I was an idiot.

"Not a problem Granger I'm sure you'll find a seat somewhere," he said as he slid into the nearest seat.

"What? I was here first," I cried and sat down in the seat opposite.

"Oh, is that why you apologised?" he asked smugly.

"No I..." but my voice was cut off by the appearance of a house elf.

"Would Mister and Mrs like to order?" she said cheerily.

"Oh no we're not eating together," I rushed.

"You're not eating?" the house elf looked at me in confusion.

"I'll have sausage casserole and a pumpkin juice please Sessy," Draco drawled. I looked up at him in shock and the house elf, clearly named Sessy looked at me expectantly.

"Umm, chicken sandwich and pumpkin juice please," I said quietly, and with a snap of her fingers she disappeared. I had a mental battle with myself as to what most shocked me about Malfoy's behaviour, settling at the glaringly obvious.

"You like house elves now?" I asked in quite clear astonishment.

"I've never not liked house elves, but in fairness your constant lectures to anyone who'd listen about spew or spit or whatever it was might have hit home." he said with a slight smirk.

"It's S.P.E.W not spew and I'm glad you were listening," I finally replied, my witty retorts were some what slower coming now I was in this weird new friendship type situation with Malfoy. I was both uncomfortable and strangely content at the same time, which made for an unnerving combination.

"Where's Nymphadora's kid today?" he asked.

"Teddy? he's with Hannah Abbott, she was in our year at Hogwarts." Was I actually making small talk with Draco Malfoy?

"Oh the Hufflepuff right?" Draco asked and I nodded in confirmation. Our food arrived then and we ate in comfortable silence, occasionally talking about nothing in particular. At one point his foot hit mine and I felt a jolt of electricity shoot through me at the touch. I blushed bright red and he looked up at me in what I'm sure was faked surprise. I glared hard at him and he smirked back. When we'd finished and our plates were cleared I stood up to leave pulling some coins out of my bag to leave on the table.

"I've got this," he said and dropped an excessive number of Galleons on the table.

"This wasn't a date Malfoy and even if it was I don't like guys to pay for me anyway," I said crossly as I pushed his Galleons back towards him.

"Well I was bought up better than that and date or not the gentleman should always pay." I bit back a Deatheater upbringing related retort and leaving my coins on the table I left the restaurant without even a wave goodbye.

The half an hour left of my work day was consumed with thoughts of what a sexist prat Malfoy was and by the time I'd finished I was about ready to strangle him. The only thing that kept me sane was getting to see Teddy, something I had also been thinking about all day. I felt like a piece of my heart was missing when I was away from him and I was excited to get back to him and to feel whole again.

A/N So I couldn't kill off Fred, sue me!

Can't believe I have over 100 followers of this story, it's my first ever and I'm a little surprised to say the least! Thanks also to all the repeat reviewers I really appreciate it!


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer; JK Rowling owns everything.

Teddy had been in a right grump since I'd bought him home and his mood continued into the night. He was crying fitfully and it took me forever to put him down, he eventually fell asleep in my arms at around midnight. He woke up every couple of hours or so wailing or snuffling so by morning I was exhausted. I was extremely relieved not to have to go into the office that morning and could instead sleep in. I had managed to get Teddy back to sleep for what felt like the hundreth time at around 6am. I tried to fall back to sleep but my body was having none of it, so instead I got up and made myself a coffee. I was sat cradling my coffee and staring into space when my floo activated.

"Hermione you there?" I could hear Daphne's voice coming from the flames.

"Yeah, what's up Daff?" I said coming closer to the fire. I was delighted to see her face, she worked in France in International relations and was rarely home, I hadn't seen her in weeks.

"I'm coming through," I stept away from the fire place as Daphne's head disappeared. A second later she appeared in front of me with a whoosh of green flames. I sped over to her and enveloped her in a massive hug. She looked great, her long blonde hair was twisted up in a complicated up do and her robes were in a goregous maroon and obviously very expensive.

"HOW COULD YOU NOT TELL ME YOU WERE DATING DRACO BLEEDING MALFOY!?" she screeched.

"Ssssh you'll wake the baby," I pleeded automatically and then actually paused to process her words.

"Oh sorry forgot about him!" Daphne laughed and pressed a sarcastic finger to her lips.

"I'm not dating Malfoy, you know we hated eachother in school,"

"Hate and love, such a fine line don't you think," she mused looking at me with one delicate eyebrow raised. She then pushed the newspaper that I hadn't noticed she was clutching in her hand, towards me.

 ** _'Deatheater and Griffinwhore dating. A match made in heaven or hell?'_** **article by Rita Skeeter,** I scoffed loudly.

"Are they even allowed to print that? Surely they can't use a word like that in a newspaper. If I wasn't so mad at the accusation I'd think it quite witty." I sighed as I scanned the page further. There were two huge pictures of Malfoy and I on the front cover, one of my argument with Ron in the street and the other in the cafe. The first picture showed me with my back pressed close to Malfoy's chest and him resting his hand on the buggy, the caption read **'Draco and Hermione's love child?'**. The second was of the two of us sat by the window in the cafe, I was eating while Malfoy was smirking at me.

"It's not what it looks like..." I said to Daphne as I pushed the newspaper back to her.

"Really? cause it looks like you two are hooking up, which I'm not going to lie is a little weird. I wasn't a fan of the kid at school either remember, but rumour has it he's properly reformed, you know, given money to charity, looked after the elderly and kissed babies, that sort of stuff. Just wouldn't expect you to be his type." I scoffed at that and proceeded to tell her all about my four encounters with Malfoy. She ooh'd and aah'd in all the right places but when I'd finished telling her about yesterday she just stared at me open mouthed.

"You got mad and stormed out on him because he offered to pay? Are you actually mental? Do I need to take you to the asylum?" she joked as she looked at me.

"What? It was rude. He assumed that he would pay, like he didn't think I had any money or was a charity or something." I said looking down and swirling the left over coffee around my mug.

"No he wasn't! That's how us purebloods are raised, it's polite, you know, gentlemanly. He was effectively giving you an olive!" Daphne cried slamming her manicured hands on the table.

"An olive?" I asked in confusion, not having heard of this weird pureblood custom before.

"Yeah you know, to show he wants to be friends or whatever, it's a muggle saying." she said sighing in frustration at my apparent stupidity.

"Ooh you mean an olive branch," I laughed.

"Yeah olive, branch, tree whatever. The point is he was trying to be nice and you were a dick about it," she said smiling softly. Had I really been that rude?

"I'll owl him and apologise," I said as Daphne stood to go.

"So you're really not dating?" she asked again.

"No." I laughed and stood up to get some parchment.

"I would if I were you, you know if I was interested in guys. Anyone can see he's grown up goood," she winked and stepped into the floo, with a small wave she was gone.

I started my letter, and then restarted it again and again and again. I finally settled on short and sweet.

 _Dear Malfoy,_

 _I wanted to apologise for my behaviour yesterday, I wasn't aware that you were just being polite and thought you were trying to belittle me. Daphne Greengrass, do you know her? she was in our year at Hogwarts, anyway, she made me see that I may have come across as a bit rude. I hope you accept my apology._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Hermione._

I sent Herbert (a twany owl on loan to me from Mrs Grimblehawk) off with the letter and creeped into Teddy's room to check on him. He was still asleep which was unusual and I pressed a hand to his forehead to feel him burning up. Immediately I panicked, he'd never been ill before, well at least not with me. Should I take him to St Mungos or was it just a cold? Maybe I should give him some pepper up potion, could babies drink potions? I took his temperature with a wave of my wand, 39 degrees, that was high but not drastically so. I pulled off Teddy's blankets and gently wiped his head with a cool flannel. I decided to let him sleep and continually check his temperature in case it got worse. I left Teddy's room as I heard Herbert return clutching a letter. I looked in surprise at the curly handwriting I didn't recognise and opened it.

 _Granger,_

 _Daphne was in my house at Hogwarts, we were not well acquainted._

 _I will accept your apology when I receive it face to face. Can you do drinks at the Leaky Cauldron in half an hour?_

 _Yours,_

 _Draco._

Yours? Yours? Who signs a letter to a virtual stranger with yours? I read the letter again before scribbling a reply.

Malfoy,

As charmingly put together as that invitation was, Teddy is currently running a fever and I don't feel able to leave him. Maybe another time?

Not yours,

Hermione.

Before questioning for too long if my letter came off as rude, jokey, flirty or a disastrous combination, I sent it off with Herbert. I waited for a reply as I busied myself in the kitchen, fixing myself some breakfast and grabbing a bottle of milk for Teddy. I woke Teddy and immediately he began snuffling unhappily. I gave him his bottle which he drank a little of before throwing it angrily on the floor. His hair was a sickly green colour which didn't bode well. I picked Teddy up as the door bell rang, cuddling him to me I opened the door.

"Malfoy? What are you doing here?" I asked in shock, my cheeks flushing bright red as his eyes scanned my outfit. I was in my pajamas, a long dark blue Arctic Monkeys tour t-shirt and short shorts.

"I actually just thought I'd come over and help with Teddy, I wasn't sure if you'd know the different Magical Maladies or what potions to give. Although thinking about it now you've probably done a tone of research." I just stood in the doorway open mouthed.

"You'll catch Nargles Granger," Malfoy laughed, as he pushed my chin up with a long finger. I shivered at the touch but stept aside to let him in, still entirely mute. It was only when Teddy started crying again that I was shaken back to reality.

"May I?" asked Malfoy reaching his hands out towards Teddy. I passed Teddy to Malfoy hesitantly and if it was possible Teddy cried louder.

"You'll be back with Hermione really soon buddy, I'm just going to have a little look, see if I can work out what's wrong with you." Malfoy whispered to Teddy as he stroked his green hair. Malfoy felt Teddy's forehead, waved his wand several times and then lifted his pajama top up and examined his chest.

"I think it's just your average sickness bug, very muggle." he continued examining Teddy. I stopped him however, when he reached into the pocket of his silk robes and pulled out a little bottle.

"I'm not going to poison him Granger," he snapped and then seeing my expression said, "It's like an infant pepper up potion, I got it from Dilly our house elf, I promise it's safe." I looked at him warily before nodding slowly. He pushed the bottle towards Teddy who to my surprise took it and gulped it down. There was a very serious talk about accepting things from strangers in his future.

"It's supposed to smell like whatever the infant finds delicious, that's why he was so keen to drink it." Malfoy explained as he sat down at my kicthen table with Teddy still firmly snuggled into his chest. Teddy's hair was now gradually losing it's green quality and turning white-blond again. He fell asleep only minutes later and I took him from Malfoy's arms, placing him in his crib with 'Moony' lay by his side. When I arrived back in the kitchen Malfoy was fiddling with his signet ring uncomfortably.

"Thank you for that," I said smiling pleasantly, determined to accept the olive branch he was clearly offering.

"I shouldn't have barged into your home," he sighed and made to stand up.

"You can stay for a bit if you like? I know we're not friends or anything and don't get me wrong I'm still not sure I like you but I quite enjoy not hating you." I said slowly.

"The feelings mutual" he chucked, "But I'd like that," he said with a genuine smile which I'm not going to lie, took my breath away. "I actually had a favour to ask you," he paused, as if catching himself. "Actually forget it, I better get going, you look like you could use some sleep." I stuck my tongue out at him for that comment and he looked at me in shock before chuckling as he left. I was determined to one day, make him laugh out loud.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer; JK Rowling owns everything.

It had been 5 days since I'd seen Malfoy, but we'd sent an occaional owl and I found myself enjoying corresponding with him. We weren't really friends exactly, but we also weren't acquaintances anymore either. We were in a slightly awkward in between stage but I found that I didn't particularly care. Daphne was continually nagging me about the fact that I should be 'getting in his pants'. I would be lying if I said I didn't find him attractive, but that was taking things a bit far.

I was settling into a comfortable routine at work, juggling Teddy and work had been difficult in the first few days but I'd quickly found a solution and my boss was happy with my progress. My first week had been spent focusing on the different werewolf legislations and highlighting some of the main issues with them. My next assignment was something to do with centaurs, although I hadn't picked up the files for that assignment yet.

"Bye," I turned around to see Teddy waving at his bowl of melon which was now upside down on the floor. I groaned internally, Teddy had recently learnt the word 'bye' and now used it in almost every situation. I was pretty sure he created situations so that he could use the word, hence the melon bowl.

"Teds, we've talked about this, you shouldn't throw your food." I said as I picked up his melon, sighing as I pulled him up out of his highchair, kissed his head and put him on his play mat. Teddy had recovered quickly from his fever, the day after Malfoy gave him the potion he was almost entirely better. I sat down with Teddy to play with his bricks, he was obsessed with building towers and knocking them over. I tried to devote my entire weekends to Teddy and if that wasn't possible I would always devote my Sundays to him. A tap at the window made me jump and I accidently knocked over the tower I was building, making Teddy frown at me. He looked so adorable with his little face all scrunched up.

"Bye," he huffed as I got up to open the window for the dark scary looking owl which I knew belonged to Malfoy.

 _Hermione,_

 _It feels like it's been ages since I've seen you and owl correspondents isn't really a great foundation for friendship. Would you and Teddy like to meet me at Hyde Park today at 2?_

 _Yours,_

 _Draco._

He had started referring to me by my first name ever since he'd helped Teddy but for some reason I just couldn't do the same. I looked at the time, 1 o'clock, actually the park sounded pretty good right about now. I sent Malfoy a quick reply before scooping Teddy up and taking him into his bedroom to get him ready. 30 minutes and a fight over putting socks on we were both ready to go. I quickly pulled Teddy's coat over his stripey t-shirt and pulled a hat over his head. It was dementor weather, as Harry used to call it, dark grey and completely miserable. I pulled my bright red raincoat and matching scarf on and picking up Teddy, left my apartment. It was about 15 minutes later when we left the tube and were heading towards Hyde Park that I suddenly regretted my decision to come, the weather was terrible. Teddy was gurgling happy in my arms as we walked through the gates, as my eyes scanned for Malfoy.

"Hermione," a friendly voice came from behind me. "I suddenly realised I hadn't been specific and that you'd probably come to the muggle bit of Hyde Park." I looked at him in complete bewilderment. "Hi Ted mate, how are you?" he nodded at Teddy as Teddy giggled and stretched out his arms for him to take. Malfoy looked at me for confirmation and when I nodded he swooped him up into his arms tickling him under the chin. He then grabbed my arm and pulled me through the gate that seemed to have suddenly materialised several metres down the brick wall. I walked several steps behind the two of them watching the two matching blonde heads that were leant together. Malfoy gestured for me to follow him as he approached the gate and pushed it open. When I appeared the otherside of the wall my eyes opened wide in shock and I was pretty sure my mouth was making the cartoon classic O shape. The first noticeable difference between the muggle and wizarding parks was the weather, the weather here was blue skys and not a cloud in sight. The park itself was similar, all green grass and big trees but this one had an incredible play area, with all sorts of crazy equiptment. It looked similar to a muggle play area but more advanced and complicated looking. Teddy wooped in delight at the sight and pulled at Malfoy's shirt colour aggressively.

"Alright little man what do you want to do first? Sand?" I looked up in surprise? How did Malfoy know what sand was and where was the sand, cause I sure as hell couldn't see any. He took Teddy over to what looked like a waterfall and a swimming pool except to my shock the pool was in fact full of multi coloured, slowly moving sand. Seeing the expression on my face Malfoy said,

"Don't worry, It's perfectly safe, he can't sink or drown or whatever you're thinking and it's also charmed to prevent him putting any in his mouth," I grinned at this and Malfoy put Teddy down in the sand taking off his jacket and hat in the process.

"This place is amazing, how did I not know about it?" I asked as I looked around in shock.

"It's actually really new, the guy who designed it wanted to mix magic with muggle and came up with this," Malfoy explained, looking down at his hand.

"Was that guy you by any chance?" I asked, a small smile on my lips.

"Maybe." he said blushing scarlet.

"I think you should be proud of everything you've achieved since the war, it's impressive." I said honestly and I felt a tug on my heart as I looked at the complete surprise on his face.

"You know, no ones ever said anything so genuinely nice to me," he said and grabbed my hand. "I just want to say I'm sorry, I know I should have said it months ago, well years actually but I wasn't sure how you'd take it. I was vile to you at Hogwarts, the things I said to you were unforgivable but I was young and misguided and well..." he faultered "I'm just unbelievably sorry," he muttered to end. I looked up at him in genuine shock and then paused as I took in his face. He looked genuinely remorseful and my heart broke a little for him and I wondered if he had anyone in his life right now.

"I accept your apology and I forgive you. We were both young and I think we should let what happened in the past stay there." I smiled warmly at him and squeezed his hand. I felt closer to him now than I had been before and I felt that whatever had been holding me back was now laid to rest. While we'd been having a deep conversation Teddy had crawled to the opposite side of the sand pit and was now deep in hand gestured baby conversation with a small girl with blond hair.

"Hey Teds who you talking to?" I asked as Draco and I made our way over. Teddy grinned at us happily and pulled the little girl over.

"Hiya," Draco smiled at her, she looked quite a lot younger than Teddy and I looked up to see if her parents were around. It was then that I spotted a blur of blonde flying towards our group. The woman scooped the little girl up gave me a quick nod and then death glared Draco. The woman was Fleur Weasley. I looked over at Draco who was looking embarrassed.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"You do not get to feel bad about this," I said as I scooped the now crying Teddy out of the sand pit. "He'll make new friends, better friends. Friends who's parents don't hold ridiculous prejudices." I said forcefully. "Now lets go and get some icecream," I smiled cheerily and at the word icecream Teddy's head shot up from my shoudler and he immediately stopped crying.

"Bye," he called towards Fleur's retreating back but she was too far away to hear him.

Later that evening, after giving Teddy a very thorough bath to get rid of all the chocolate that seemed to cover every available inch of his body. Malfoy and I sat with small glasses of wine on my sofa while Teddy was asleep in bed.

"You used a timeturner in third year? How did I not know this?" Malfoy grinned in utter shock.

"Not many people did, I didn't even tell Ron, and Harry only found out because he had to," I laughed at the memory.

"You know, that might be the most dorky use of a timeturner ever," he laughed out loud at the image. I grinned happily at him and he looked up at me and smiled. He stopped laughing as he turned to look at me.

"Hermione I..." but he was cut off as the floo activated and a head appeared.

"Hermione? Hermione?" I moved over to the fireplace to see George's head.

"What's up George?"

"Mum's on an absolute rampage, Fleur came over and let slip that she saw Teddy and that you were, you know, looking after him. And with Malfoy of all people," he looked extremely guilty as he caught sight of Malfoy leaning against the sofa. "Sorry mate, anyway, she's going on about how you're not fit to raise a child and how she'll be speaking to the ministry. I'm sure nothing will come of it, you know how she gets, but I just thought I'd warn you,"

"Yeah, thanks George," I muttered quietly and with that, his head disappeared. I turned around suddenly to see Malfoy moving quickly towards me and wrapping me in a bear hug, rivalling my own.

"It'll be okay," he whispered in my ear as shivers went up and down my spine at his voice. I just hoped he was right.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer; JK Rowling owns everything

I had unsubscribed from the Daily Prophet when they started spreading lies about me, but the morning after George's head appeared in my fireplace a newspaper arrived at my window via owl. I pulled it from the beautiful brown owl, gave him a treat and watched him fly off before looking down. The first thing that caught my attention was thick red lettering across the front page photo that read; 'Dear Whore, I hope you burn in hell xxx.' Under the aggressive words was a picture of myself and Malfoy holding hands as we stood in the wizarding park. I breathed in deeply and grabbed the kitchen table for support and read. " ** _Hermione playing happy families with known deatheater Draco_** " the following article was brutal and entirely untrue and my blood began to boil. I sent Malfoy a quick owl before hiding the newspaper and heading into Teddy's bedroom to get him dressed.

Once Teddy was dressed and ready to go to Hannah's for a couple of hours while I was at work, I gathered all my files together and was about to leave when I saw Malfoys owl at the window.

 _Hermione_ ,

 _Meet me at the café at 12_

Yours,

 _Draco._

I smiled to myself as I stept into the floo with Teddy cuddled tightly to me, he hadn't added any new words to his vocabulary but was changing his hair colour with increasing frequency. He giggled and tried to reach the floo powder.

"Teddy no. Hold on tight," I scolded as I dropped the floo powder into the fireplace and called out Hannah's home address.

"Hermione! God I'm so sorry about the paper, but I've got to ask, are you and Draco dating?" Hannah ambushed me as I stepped out of the floo and taking Teddy from me, she stood with one hand on her hip looking in confusion at me.

"No we're just friends, he apoligised for how he used to behave and I don't know, he's nice." I replied with a shy smile.

"Omg you totally like him!" I blushed hard at that.

"I've got to get to work, I'll see you later" I said quickly, neatly dodging Hannah's exclamation. Hannah scoffed and rolled her eyes as I got back into the fireplace I heard her mutter something, which I was sure was _pathetic_ before I disappeared in a swirl of green flames.

My work day was uneventful and I found myself getting more and more excited for the impending lunch. It was just before 12 and I was getting ready to head out for lunch when one of the assistants in my department arrived in my office. I wracked my brain to try and remember her name but my mind came up blank. She looked very much like a spider, long and skinny with extremely long limbs and thick black eyebrows. She didn't say a word to me, just dropped a letter on my desk and turned quickly on her heal and left.

 _Miss Granger,_

 _I request your presence at my office on Tuesday 19th of this month at 10am._

 _Sincerely_

 _Mr Lightbody_

I looked at the letter in confusion, I wasn't expecting to have to meet him again until the adoption was to be finalised. Surely I hadn't had enough reviews and inspections yet? I shook my head and told myself firmly not to worry although a sinking feeling was gripping my insides and making me want to vomit. I slowly stood, grabbed my coat and purse and headed to the café to meet Draco.

"Hermione!" A voice called and I looked up to see Draco in the same window seat as before only this time he was waving to me.

I smiled graciously as I walked over and he took my hand, kissing my nuckles. I blushed deeply and smiled again when he pulled out my chair for me. Was this a date? Did I want it to be? We made small talk before we ordered but it was obvious Draco really wanted to ask me something.

"Spit it out, whatever it is." I finally said and he looked at me in surprised confusion before smirking at my abruptness.

"Okay but you asked for it," he said slowly before grasping his hands together and staring down at them uncomfortably.

"My mother isn't well, mentally I mean, physically she's fine but..." he trailed off and I reached out and placed my hand atop his. "The mental abuse she suffered under my father has taken it's toll a lot since the war and she's become ill. Muggles refer to it as depression I think? but we don't really have a name for it here. She doesn't have any family now, not really, father prevented her from seeing Andromeda and Bellatrix was well... not very much like family. She wants to know Teddy, to meet him." I breathed in heavily. "You don't have to say yes of course, I just think it could help?" he finally looked up at me and I could see the agony in his eyes. He'd just completely exposed himself to me and I didn't know how to take it.

"I'll have to think about it, and possibly visit her first alone before I bring Teddy." Malfoy smiled brightly at me and I couldn't help admire how handsome he looked when he did so.

"That was more than I expected, thank you." I nodded and tucked into my sandwich. The conversation was interesting and never lapsed but I couldn't help notice how he avoided the subject of the newspaper article. I didn't want to bring up the subject and part of me was glad that he never brought it up. I wouldn't know where to begin or what to say anyway so I was glad when he didn't mention it. When we were both finished he put a comfortable arm around my waist and walked me to the ministry. It turned out that Draco worked as part of the administrative services of the Ministry, a job he hated. When I asked him why he stayed however, he mumbled something about nobody wanting to hire an ex deatheater and my heart bled a little for him.

When I got to Hannah's an hour later there was a large commotion in the kitchen. I moved forward cautiously, wand outstretched in front of me. Disaster met me in the kitchen in the form of a small black puppy and baby Teddy.

"Max, stop. STOP. TEDDY!!!" I watched Hannah as she shrieked at the puppy and then at Teddy. I stood back and laughed. Max (who I assumed was the puppy) had caused chaos in the kitchen, there was food everywhere and Max now had a bag of flour and was running around the kitchen scattering it everywhere. Teddy was crawling around and around the kitchen table after him and shreaking loudly. Hannah looked up as I laughed even louder.

"Oh Hermione, I'm sorry you had to see this, I swear I'm good at looking after Teddy!" Hannah looked at me with wide panicky eyes. I just laughed harder and picked Teddy up out of the mess of flour he was currently crawling in.

"Have you had fun today little man?" I asked cuddling him close, covering my own suit in flour.

"Yep yep," he giggled and clapped his hands together. "Ax Ax," he clapped harder.

"Hannah don't sweat it," I said looking at her still panicked face as she tried to stop Max from pulling at my suit leg. "Although you might want to get that dog under control!" I laughed as I detached Max from my trouser leg. I ruffled his black fur and giggled as he snuffled my hand.

"Ax Ax" Teddy said as he tried to reach the puppy over my shoulder.

"Oh you're saying Max, Max." I smiled at Hannah "at least you've helped increase his vocabulary," she laughed hard at that.

After helping Hannah clean up her kitchen and letting Teddy say goodbye to Max I headed to the fireplace.

"Oh Mione, I can't watch Teds on Friday. Neville is taking me on a weekend away."

"Aww Han thats not a problem, I hope you have an amazing time." I left with a quick wave and by the time we'd got home Teddy was already asleep. He woke up wailing an hour later, this wasn't a common occurence and I wondered if anything was wrong. He didn't seem to be hot and so I wasn't too worried. The rest of the day was spent with Teddy playing on his play mat. He'd upgraded from his blocks and was now obsessed with a muggle Barbie that he'd picked out when we'd been in Muggle London a few days previously. I sat on the sofa beside him and as he played I worked. My recent assignment was in regards to the vampire population, they were a close knit population and so very few people knew anything about them. This was a hard assignment, but it just made me love my job even more, I loved a challenge. I wasn't as focused on the assignment as I should be though, I couldn't stop my brain whirring, I was filled with thoughts of Malfoy, Narcissa, Molly Weasley and Mr Lightbody. I was panicking for no reason about the meeting I told myself, but my gut told me different.

The next day my gut was proved correct. I bought Teddy with me to the meeting with Mr Lightbody as I didn't want to bother Hannah, Neville or Daphne for such a short amount of time. As I was called into his office I knew something wasn't quite right, he looked uncomfortable as I sat down and pulled Teddy onto my lap, kissing his forehead.

"Miss Granger, we have recently had a complaint filed against you, we would normally ignore it but this report was filed through all the correct channels. It is extremely thorough and unfortunately makes some good points. We will investigate these claims thoroughly within the next few weeks." He paused and looked up at me, I could see guilt in his eyes and knew this was just protocol.

"What does this mean?" I asked shakily as I held Teddy closer to me.

"We will be collecting references from friends, family and collegues as well as keeping an eye on you, your work and your behavious around Teddy. Hopefully we will find no problem with your personality or care of Teddy and everything will return to normal. If however there is a problem then Teddy will be removed from your care and be placed in temporary foster care while we either track down his godfather or if that fails his nearest living relative." I pulled Teddy close to me and he reached for my now tear stained face.

"Mumma," he sniffled as he stroked my face.

"Look, between you and me, the main problem that the Wizengamot sees is through your association with Mr Malfoy." I looked up in shock.

"What? why?"

"Look, he's a ex death eater, thats not something people forget easily. Just terminate your relationship and I can't see there being a problem," I looked at him in complete and utter shock.

"We're just friends! This is ridiculous!" Mr Lightbody had the good grace to look embarrased but instead of apologising just reached for my hand, gave it a squeeze and gestured for me to leave.

I waited until I had put Teddy down for his mid morning nap before bursting into floods of tears.

A/N _Massive apologies for the embarrassingly slow update. Moving into my new house and starting uni again has taken up all of my time recently. Hopefully my update speed will improve from now._


	10. Chapter 10

JK Rowling owns everything

I breathed in deeply between sobs but this only made me hiccup loudly, I groaned in frustration.

My friendship with Malfoy had become incredibly important to me and the idea of losing it hit me hard. The thought of losing Teddy however, was unbareable. How was I going to tell Malfoy? I had to tell him, I had to break the friendship off until I had offical adoptive rights of Teddy. I could do this.

I stood up and made my way to the bathroom, looking in the mirror at my mascara smudged face and red eyes, I sighed. I moved into Teddy's room and looked at his sleeping form, Moony was tucked firmly under his arm and he was smiling in his sleep. I had to do this, for Teddy.

I sent a patronus to Malfoy asking him to come over. His reply was almost instantaneous and a knock on the door followed shortly after the patronus.

My breath caught as I opened the door, he was wringing wet. His light blue shirt clung to him like a second skin and I couldn't help admiring his muscular form. All those years playing seeker (albeit poorly) had done him some serious favours. I looked up when I heard him chuckle.

"Take a picture it'll last longer" he smirked and I blushed.

"I would, but the flash scares animals," I replied quickly with a grin. He laughed out loud and I quickly noted it was the first time he had done so. I liked his laugh I realised and just like that I knew I couldn't lose him either.

"Why are you so wet?" I asked and he gestured behind him at the pouring rain.

"No I mean, you're a wizard couldn't you transfigure an umbrella?" I asked laughing.

"I was in a muggle area when it started to rain, I think an umbrella appearing out of no where would have been cause for concern don't you?" I smiled and opened the door wider to let him in. Once inside he cast a drying charm on himself and his clothes and then sat down on the sofa. His arm casually draped over the back, a smirk on his face. Taking in my expression however, both his smirk and his arm dropped.

"You had your meeting today," he said slowly. I nodded and made my way over to the sofa, sitting awkwardly on the end.

"It didn't go well," he stated as though it was fact and he didn't need confirmation.

"A complaint has been made against me, through all the proper channels, I'm under heavy scrutiny. Mr Lightbody thinks if I cut all ties with you everything else should be fine," I said the last sentence extremely quickly. Malfoy's eyes flashed with hurt but he nodded slowly and went to stand up.

"I understand." He said quickly, the formal quality to his voice that he had had before we knew eachother had returned. I reached out and grabbed his hand, preventing him from leaving.

"Granger. Don't make this harder than it has to be," he spat. It wasn't his tone of voice that made me drop his hand but the use of my surname.

"I didn't..." I said but he interrupted me again as he pulled open the front door.

"I get that you would choose Teddy over me I do, but I didn't think you'd ever just drop me like I meant nothing to you."

"I didn't..." I tried again, realising I had never said anything of the sort and that I hadn't even decided what I wanted when I told him what had happened.

"I get it," he snapped. "I'm just deatheater scum," and with one last glance back at me he slammed the front door behind him and disapperated with a pop.

I sat back on the sofa in shock. I heard Teddy begin to cry in the other room, the door obviously having woken him. I slid off the sofa and into his room. He immediately stopped crying as I approached him and lifted him out of his cot, holding him close to me and kissing his sandy coloured hair that had recently started curling to match mine. As I bustled around the apartment getting food for Teddy I kept seeing the look on Malfoy's face. The recognisable hurt before the mask of indifference. Tears welled in my eyes but I blinked hard and bought my focus back to Teddy. If Malfoy wasn't even mature enough to stay and talk about it then I didn't need him. I placed Teddy's bowl in front of him almost tipping it down him as a knock at the door startled me. My heart lept, maybe it was Malfoy coming back to apologise.

"I knew you couldn't stay aw..." I trailed off as I saw that it was in fact not Malfoy but a young girl with bright yellow hair.

"Hi I'm Lisa Turpin, I'm here for your inspection," the girl smiled brightly.

"Oh of course, you were in Ravenclaw weren't you?" The girl's smile broadened until she resembled the Cheshire cat in Alice in wonderland. I stepped back to let her come in.

"Mumma," I walked over to Teddy and picked him out of his highchair.

"Did you finish all that by yourself, you're such a good boy," I smiled kissing him on the side of the head. "Say hi to Lisa Teddy,"

"Hi," he shrieked. Lisa cooed affectionately as I placed him on his playmat and gestured for Lisa to sit. She looked slightly uncomfortable and kept tapping her clipboard nervously.

"Is Malfoy here?" I looked at her in shock, my eyes wide.

"No?" I said in confusion.

"I'm supposed to check, I'm so sorry it's just the Wizengamot wanted me to see if you still had ties to him and I just didn't know how to ask." She blushed scarlet and scribbled something on her clipboard.

"I was told to break off my friendship with him or I could lose Teddy. Teddy is the most important thing in my life, I couldn't risk that," I sighed sadly. Realising I may have bared a little too much of my soul to the almost complete stranger in front of me. She cocked her head to the side slightly before writing something on her clipboard.

After a short Q and A session the inspection passed as normal, Lisa looked around the apartment asked a few final clarifying questions and then left.

Once she had left Teddy became impatient, frustrated that I hadn't played with him all day he threw his barbie at my head when I tried to join him on his mat. When bathtime came around he threw an almighty temper tantrum and refused to cooperate. I groaned in frustration, after 30 minutes of this charade I cast a quick cleaning charm on him and tucked him into bed.

I felt as though I had had a day with the dementors when I finally got into bed and I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

A/N: It has been months. I don't have an excuse except some serious writers block. Better late than never though right? Thanks for everyones really nice reviews over the past months, they've definitely helped to inspire the update. I know the chapters short but I will be updating tomorrow as well to make up for it.

I hope you don't hate me too much for this chapter. It will get better for Hermione I promise.


	11. Chapter 11

Five days. It had been five days since I had spoken to Malfoy and I missed him. I kept hoping I would run into him, I bought Teddy into Diagon Alley an unneccessary amount. It reached a point where Teddy wasn't even excited about the prospect of chocolate icecream from fortescues anymore. I couldn't stop though, everytime I saw a blond headed man my heart leapt. I was ridiculous.

Teddy had spent the day with Fred and George on Friday when Hannah was unable to babysit and had been returned to me with rosey red cheeks, a big smile on his face and a swear word in his limited vocabulary. I vowed never to let them babysit unsupervised again.

Teddy's 1st birthday was tomorrow and I was determined to make it perfect. I had booked the day off work and was planning on taking him to Hyde park again. The evening was planned by Fred and George who had taken it upon themselves to organise a surprise birthday party for Teddy. I couldn't think how they were planning on surprising a one year old who didn't understand that it was his birthday, but I left them to it.

I was spending my day working, something I had vowed never to do on a Sunday. But I had been spending so much time with Teddy trying to distract myself from Malfoy that I was behind on my work. Something that had never happened in all my time at Hogwarts no matter what drama there was in my life. Neville had come over to watch Teddy while I worked in my bedroom and I could hear him chatting to Teddy in the living room.

I appeared a few hours later when Neville called me for lunch.

"Nev you didn't have to make me a sandwich, you've gone above and beyond," I cried as I took in the cheese melt on the table.

"Don't be daft, I was making one for myself and I couldn't deprive you of ny famous cheese melts," he laughed as he bit into his sandwich making exaggerated 'mmm' sounds.

"God that's almost indecent. There are children here," I cried pretending to look offended. Neville only laughed harder at this. Teddy banged his hands on his highchair tray, effectively stealing our attention.

"And what do you want Mr man?" I asked as I pinched his cheek.

"Damn," Teddy replied clapping.

"No Teddy you're not to use that word. I'm going to kill Fred and George I swear it!" But Neville was laughing hard at Teddy but stopped dead when I gave him evils.

The afternoon continued much the same way as the morning and by the time I left my bedroom my brain was fried. Neville moved from the kitchen where he had been helping Teddy with his evening meal.

"You miss him. I couldn't work out what it was that was wrong with you but it's him isn't it," Neville said quietly. I thought about acting as though I had no idea what he was talking about but I decided very quickly against it. Instead I sighed and sat down at the kitchen table, pulling the wine glass of wine that Neville had poured towards me.

"I don't know what to do," I said honestly, sipping the wine slowly.

"You should tell him what you're thinking. How you're feeling," he said, his words laced with meaning. I knew he wasn't referring to the Teddy situation but I didn't want to even think about what he was implying.

"After tomorrow. I'll owl him after tomorrow." Neville looked at me for a moment before nodding and getting up to leave. He kissed me and then Teddy on the head before heading to the floo.

"Just don't leave it too long," he said quietly before he disappeared in a whirl of green flames.

I looked over at Teddy. He had just finished eating and his face was covered in red sauce. I sighed, hoping he would consent to bathtime tonight.

The day of Teddy's birthday was a bright one, the sun was visible through my blinds but it wasn't that that woke me. I was woken up unnaturally early by Teddy's wails. Almost as though he knew today was all about him and he wanted to make the most of it.

"Hey little man. Did you know you're one today, you're one year old," I cooed at him as I pulled him out of his cot and cuddled him to me. He gurgled appreciatively and clutched my pajama shirt.

After putting him in his highchair, I wandered around the kitchen bleary eyed, trying to remember the location of the coffee machine. Which was harder than I thought at 5 in the morning. I banged my shin hard on the edge of the table and cried out.

"Damn it," I yelped.

"Damn," Teddy cried now clapping his hands hard. I groaned in annoyance realising I couldn't possibly scold him for using that word when I'd just used it myself. The rest of breakfast passed smoothly and I actually found myself excited for the day ahead.

Teddy had enjoyed the park and had made a new friend, not Fleur's daughter Victorie however, this was a little boy. His dirty blonde hair and blue eyes had clued me in on his identity immediately and when I saw Luna approaching from a distance my suspicion was confirmed.

"Hello Hermione," she had said in her usual airy manner. I hadn't seen her since the battle of Hogwarts but she had told me that she was happy. We agreed to set up a play date for Teddy and her son Nigelius or Nigel for short. She hadn't mentioned her husband although I knew she was married, having seen the wedding announcement in the prophet.

Teddy had been resistent to leave the park and his new friend but he had settled not long after we had left the gates of hyde park.

It was only 40 minutes later that we were ready to head to Fred and George's apartment above the shop which they had offered for the party. I brushed invisible dust off my red dress and tidied Teddy's collar. He squirmed at my affection and fearing a temper tantrum coming on I rang the bell for the apartment. I could hear scurrying feet the otherside of the door and then it was flung open. Fireworks shot up from either side of the door and sparkled and glittered into a big 1 above our heads. Fred beamed as Teddy reached up at the colourful number.

"Happy Birthday you big boy," Fred and George cried in unison before taking him from my arms and swinging him around. Teddy was giggling loudly, his chubby legs kicking backwards as Fred swung him higher.

I took a moment to take in the room. There were a lot more people here than I had been expecting. I saw Daphne in the corner talking with a tall dark skinned witch who I was sure was Angelina Johnson. Hannah and Neville were over in the kitchen swigging butterbeer and chatting to a brunette who I thought was Alicia Spinnet and to my utter surprise Luna. I was about to approach them when a group in the corner of the room caught my eye. Lee Jordan and Ella and Anna, two of the women who worked near me at the ministry were laughing uproariously at something a man in a dark suit was saying. A man with platinum blonde hair. I inhaled sharply, my heart pounding but before I could head over to him my path was blocked by a grinning George.

"Look at him! He's so happy! This has been a roaring success if I do say so myself." I looked over to where he was gesturing and saw Teddy in Fred's arms trying to stick a tail on a very large hippogriff image. The image kept moving away everytime Teddy tried to touch it however and he was getting more and more determined to reach it. So much so that it was good that Neville was on hand nearby as Teddy was currently trying to throw himself out of Fred's arms at the Hippogriff. I laughed and turned back to George with a big grin on ny face.

"This is wonderful. Thank you," I said as I reached up and pulled him into a hug.

I hadn't forgotten Malfoy but deciding to get myself a drink first, I headed for the kitchen. As I entered the door I hit into something hard and fell backwards. A hand snaked around my waist and I looked up into grey eyes. Malfoy looked at me hard as he righted me and I felt his gaze take in everything from the curly strands of my hair that had fallen from my bun to my figure hugging red dress.

"What are you doing here?" I asked uncomfortably before realising that was possibly the worst thing I could have said in this situation.

"I can leave," he said his voice hard.

"No no that's not what I meant, I just didn't think you'd want to be here after..." I trailed off as I looked at him.

He was giving me a look of unguarded confusion.

"Neville owled me," he said slowly. I paused at this "he said you wanted me here but were too afraid to ask," now he looked uncomfortable. "Did you not want me here?"

"No I do. I do want you," I paused, eyes wide as I realised what I'd just said.

"Good," he said quietly and stepped closer so we were just a few inches apart. He was going to kiss me. Did I want him to kiss me? I wanted him to kiss me. As this realisation hit me I also realised we were now just a breathe apart.

"CAKE TIME!" A voice cried from just outside the kitchen and the door was flung open. I jumped back quickly, my hand falling into the sink and warm soapy water flying everywhere. The water went all over both myself and Malfoy. I looked over at Hannah who was leaning against the door frame grinning, her face red from barely concealed laughter.


End file.
